Whose Money is in Your Pocket?
Have you ever thought about..."who really owns the money in your possession?" You know, the money in your pocket or purse, your savings account, checking account, money market, stock portfolio and retirement plan. Why do I ask? Because the money is not really yours! Psalms 24:1 says "the Lord owns the earth and all it contains, the world and all who live in it."
Claiming ownership is almost like trying to take what is rightfully God's or presuming to play God in our own lives—and we're no match for Him. We'd be much wiser to acknowledge His rightful position, His lordship in our lives, His ownership of everything, and then figure out how we fit into the equation.
But too often, we can't get past all the stuff in the world around us and the prevailing attitudes in the culture that pressure us. We grow dissatisfied with what we have, spend money based on present desires more than long-term goals or needs, and even find our self-worth in some worldly definition of "success"—not God's definition. It doesn't take a huge error to get us off track.
So often, that's how it is in the Christian life: over time, even small errors can lead us way off course. I can be moving in a direction that's one degree off the true north that God wants for me, and for quite a while it will seem like I'm just a step or two from where I need to be. But if I continue on that course without making a correction, eventually I'm hundreds of miles off course. If I set out to fly from Kansas to Florida and my navigating equipment is off even by a degree, chances are I won't end up at Disney World.
So it is with God's truth and our thinking about money. Seeking to fit in with those around us, we might make small, almost imperceptible concessions day by day until we turn around one day and see that we've missed out on the best that God wants for us, and some major backtracking will need to happen in order to get back in step with Him.
As Christians, we may think we have this one covered. Money and stuff will never master us, right? Then along comes a recession, or we go through a divorce or some other huge challenge that affects our bank balance, and suddenly we become much more sticky-fingered about what's ours and what we see as God's. We aren't willing to make sacrifices or skip creature comforts for ourselves, even for kingdom causes. In hard times, so often our tithe is among the first budget items that we skip, but we keep our cable TV and refuse to cut back on eating out or seeing movies.
Now, you may be asking, "All these results can arise from our perception of ownership?" Yes, they can. When we fail to grasp the basic truth or fail to live with the awareness that "the Lord owns the earth and all it contains," we are setting a course that will eventually lead us hundreds or even thousands of miles from where we want to be, which is also far from experiencing the fullness of God's blessings. And experiencing this fullness begins with each of us placing God on the throne of our lives and letting Him be God, the Creator and Owner, the loving Father who wants to teach us and teach our children more about who He is.
November 22, 2010
Excerpted from Dad Cents by Shane Barkley (Timothy Publishing). Copyright (c) Shane Barkley. All rights reserved.
Shane has a passion for teaching dads how to intigrate Biblical financial values into their children's lives. Shane has a degree in Business Administration from John Brown University and has 10 years experience in the financial consulting industry. He currently serves as the President of Dad the Family Shepherd. Shane and wife, Valerie, live in Topeka, Kansas with their three daughters.
Originally published November 19, 2010.
